OpenAI plans ChatGPT overhaul to drive higher-margin products ahead of IPO

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OpenAI plans ChatGPT overhaul

Highlights

OpenAI will overhaul ChatGPT in the coming weeks, emphasizing coding, image generation, and partner services to drive higher-margin business and paid usage ahead of an IPO.
Codex's weekly active user base surged sixfold to over 5mn after its desktop app launch in February, with most Codex users paying for the service.
OpenAI expects business customers, currently 2mn and 40 per cent of revenue, to reach 50 per cent by year-end as it deprioritizes some consumer features and consolidates product leadership.

Product revamp targets business and paid usage

As reported by the Financial Times, OpenAI is rolling out the changes in the coming weeks across ChatGPT’s website and mobile apps, with a stronger focus on coding, image generation and services from partners including Canva and Booking.com. The company is repositioning ChatGPT from a standalone chatbot into what executives describe as a broader "superapp" built around personal AI agents and higher-value products.

That shift gives greater prominence to Codex, OpenAI’s coding product, as the company bets that users will pay more for tools that perform tasks rather than simply answer questions. Thibault Sottiaux, who leads OpenAI’s core product and platform group, told the FT the company is building toward a personal agent that can help users across work and daily life through mobile, desktop and web interfaces.

OpenAI says nearly 1bn users have used ChatGPT since launch, but most consumer users remain on the free tier. People familiar with the matter say most Codex users pay for the service, while the 2mn businesses using OpenAI products account for about 40 per cent of revenue, a share the company expects to rise to 50 per cent by year-end.

Competitive pressure shapes OpenAI strategy

OpenAI is reorganising internally as it tries to win more enterprise customers and compete more directly with Anthropic, whose business-focused approach has helped drive rapid growth. This year, OpenAI has placed ChatGPT, Codex and other product teams under one leadership group headed by Sottiaux, while several senior executives, including former product head Kevin Weil, have left.

Codex has expanded quickly, with its weekly active user base rising sixfold to more than 5mn after the February launch of a desktop app. The company is also redesigning ChatGPT’s interface with prompts and features that steer users toward coding and other tools, though it ultimately expects its models to infer user intent automatically without such cues.

Some consumer initiatives have been deprioritised as part of the shift, including a checkout feature for purchases inside ChatGPT, and OpenAI has shut down its video-generation product Sora less than a year after launch. Executives increasingly believe users will rely on a single AI assistant instead of separate apps, blurring the lines between chatbots, coding products, search tools and other software categories.

Our earlier report on OpenAI’s talks with the Trump administration covered discussions about a potential U.S. government stake in the company, including a structure where OpenAI could donate equity tied to a proposed “Public Wealth Fund.” We noted how this possible arrangement sits alongside broader U.S. policy moves on sovereign wealth funds and growing government involvement in strategic tech, as OpenAI weighs its longer-term path toward an IPO.

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